right now. megyn: fox news alert, the 2012 presidential election has begun with early voting now underway in several parts of the country, and by the time it is done, nearly a third of the deciding ballots will already be cast. by the time we get to actual voting day. welcome to "america live," everyone, i'm megyn kelly. by the end of this week, voting will begin in various forms across some 32 states. among them, critical battle grounds like iowa and new hampshire. this exploding trend is now forcing experts to rethink some of the most successful strategies in recent political history. chris stirewalt is our fox news digital politics editor and host of "power play" on foxnews.com live. chris, how many states are we talking about in terms of widespread voting? we say 32 states by the end of the week, but in terms of, you know, real chunks of the electorate getting their votes in. >> so there's two categories

here. absentee ballots, you've always been able to get absentee ballots, but that's sort of a pain, right? you have to request one, you have to get one, you have to do that. what's changed in the last ten years is what they call in-person absentee voting which means you can walk down to your county courthouse and vote just like you would on election day, but do it in person. and there you're talking about iowa starts thursday, ohio, must-win ohio -- the person who wins ohio will almost certainly be the winner of the election overall -- they start the week after that. the election has begun. people will be voting in person in those two key battleground states, and then the lineup just happens faster and faster as soon as that's done. megyn: how do you get to do in-person absentee voting? [laughter] >> well, do you know who loves early voting? incumbents love early voting because it. >> rinks the amount of -- shrinks the amount of time challengers have to get their message out. so incumbents love early voting,

and laws have nudged up when it begins because incumbents know they're shrinking the calendar, and the less time their challengers have to point out things their opponents are doing wrong, the more likely the incumbents are to get the vote. on any given rex day, republicans have the advantage. that's been the case in terms of person of by-person turnout. more republicans will turn out than will out of the democrats. that gives democrats weeks or, in this case, six weeks in the places like iowa and ohio, to get people to the polls that might otherwise miss on election day. so if you're barack obama and you are both an incumbent and a democrat, you like the fact that this year is going to be the high water mark so far for early, in-person voting. megyn: they're saying that half of the vote is expected to come in early in most of the battleground states. half of the vote will come in early in most of the states including north carolina, florida, colorado, nevada, ohio,

iowa. i mean, that's, that's critical. so if you look at this national race right now, tied up in so many of these polls, but then you get a different result, usually president obama winning when you look at the state-by-state analysis in ohio and florida and virginia and pennsylvania, you can't be happy about that if you're mitt romney, can you? >> no. and this is why democrats -- this is why incumbents and especially democrats have pushed for these early voting, that they really want it because it cuts into the time for mitt romney, in this case, to challenge the democratic incumbent, to come in and try to knock him down a peg. this is really a question about turnout. the people who are likely to be early voters are unlikely to be persuadable voters. if you care enough about politics that you're willing to go down to the county courthouse six weeks in advance, you're probably not drift anything the wind. but the key here, again, is that it gives democrats who struggle on person-by-person turnout

versus republicans more time to load up vans, get people down to the courthouse -- megyn: question for you before i let you go, do we know how people, when we get to november 6th, are we going to get to know where they stand? >> no. but what we will get, you'll come pack and see us, on election night you'll get a big count at the beginning. in some states county-by-county counts, how many people voted early in this county, in that county, that'll start to give us an idea about intensity because we know who votes what way in which county, so we'll be realizing the tea leaves to make you guys look as smart as possible. [laughter] megyn: thank god for that. chris stirewalt, thank you. good seeing you. governor romney is embarking on a five-day tour through several of those key swing states. the governor kicks things off in colorado -- or did, i should say -- yesterday at this rally near denver. of we expect to see him elsewhere in colorado a little later today, pueblo, in about an

hour. tomorrow he'll be heading off to ohio for three days before wrapping things up in virginia. they're so interested in the voters in those swing states, aren't they? well, the governor's hoping to gain traction as polls in all three states show the gop nominee is losing some ground to the president. you can see colorado there, it's obama 43-- 48.3 to 46. 48.8 to 44.7 in ohio and 49.6 to 45.1 in virginia. that's the real clear politics average of the polls, but, you know, it's a day-to-day thing in this presidential election. meantime, president obama is preparing to depart the white house right now for a flight to new york city where he is expected to address a gathering of the u.n. general assembly tomorrow. first, though, the president will take time out of his schedule for a taping of "the view" this afternoon in an interview that will run tomorrow morning. this leads to questions for his campaign about how he has time

for the ladies on "the view," but apparently has no time for face-to-face meetings with world leaders scheduled to be here while he is in new york and at the united nations. coming up later this hour, we will have a fair and balanced debate on the questions about the president's schedule and the heat he is taking from his critics over this issue. ♪ megyn: and now to the violence in the middle east where more than 50 people have been killed so far in what have been largely anti-american protests over the last couple of weeks. in iran on sunday, hundreds gathered in front of the french embassy chanting anti-u.s. slogans and burning french flags. cartoons of the prophet muhammad were published by a french magazine. police in athens, greece, had to use pepper spray to fed off about 300 people protesting the french cartoon and that film that came from some guylying in california that insulted -- living in california that insulted the prophet muhammad

posted on youtube. a lot of this has been blamed on the film, and now the man behind this 15-minute clip being paraded out, he was arrested for using the computer when he wasn't supposed to for a conviction for bank fraud. we've questioned before why we see a perp walk with six officers for a guy being arrested on a probation violation, but it must relate to this situation. in the meantime, a cabinet minister in pakistan is offering $100,000 to anyone who kills that man. the pakistani government has been quick to disown the comments saying that's just the prime minister, the minister's opinion. all of this as the controversy heats up over the diary of murdered u.s. ambassador chris stevens who died in a terrorist attack on our consulate in libya on september 11th along with three other americans. cnn found ambassador stevens' journal after the attack, four days after it was still sitting there, and reported some facts from it after confirming them,

it said, from other sources. apparently, against the wishes of ambassador stevens' family who just wanted to have the diary returned to them. trace gallagher has more tow from our west coast newsroom. >> reporter: and that journal, megyn s a hardbound book that cnn says it found in a largely unsecured u.s. consulate in benghazi four days after ambassador stevens was killed. now, the journal included seven handwritten pages by the ambassador. now, the journal was reportedly returned to the ambassador's family, and cnn says it initially agreed to abide by the wishes of the family not to use et or allude to it until the family got back to them. but four days later without hearing from the ambassador's family, cnn went with it saying, and i'm quoting here: cnn did not initially report on the existence of a journal out of respect for the family, but we felt there were issues raised in the journal which required full reporting which we did. issues including that ambassador stevens was concerned about

security threats and the rise of islamic extremism. now, the state department calls the move, quote, indefensible, accusing cnn of copying the journal, then contacting the family saying, and i'm quoting: whose first instinct is to remove from a crime scene the diary of a man killed along with three other americans serving our country, read it, transcribe it, e-mail it around your newsroom for others to read and only when their curiosity is fully satisfied, thinks to call the family or notify the authorities? cnn is now firing back saying the state department is attacking the messenger because the attack on benghazi raises some serious questions about why the state department did not do more to protect the ambassador. we have now reached out to the ambassador's family, still no response from them. and as far as we know, megyn, no public response from the family of ambassador chris stevens

since cnn went public with this journal. megyn? megyn: well, it makes for an interesting ethical debate at at least, and we will take it up today in kelly's court. trace, thank you. well, there is no controversy today over some remarks the president made at loyola university back in 1998. first, we got a clip last week featuring the president arguing for, quote, redistributing the wealth, and later we got more of the speech putting that remark into context. now we have what we're told is the entire thing, and in three minutes we will bring you the exclusive reporting from the entity that got it hands on the full tape. we'll tell you what it says about the president's thinking on the economy and the government when lou dobbs joins us after our live report to react. and the complaints last week over this campaign collectible may have led to a little change on a campaign web site. we'll update you on the obama team's use of the american flag. and america's coal industry may have taken a hit during the great depression, but the gop

says there's now an all-out war on coal, and apparently 19 democrats agree in the house. we'll speak with a former miner and industry rep about what has happened to our coal industry over the last few years and why in the has become such a hot issue right now on the campaign trail. >> we could employ another 20,000 coal miners in this state at any time if we were given permits by the epa. we're begging for the right to work, that's all we're asking for. we're not asking for any favors, we're not asking for any handouts, we're not asking for any concessions. all energy development comes with some risk,

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>> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and, hence, facilitate some redirection -- because i actually believe in redirection, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot.

megyn: well, that 18-second remark got a lot of attention last week in some circles. it is from a recording that surfaced of then-illinois state senator barack obama in a 1998 speech at loyola university outlining his views of government and the economy. well, the next day nbc news said that republicans had taken the remarks out of cob text and -- context and aired what the network considered the relevant remarks from the recording, 35 seconds that the news organization said demonstrated the future president only seemed to support the redirection of wealth. and now a third version of the remarks has surfaced. it is nearly two hours long. the daily caller web site says it has obtained the swire recording -- entire recording and says it is very revealing. joining me now, charles c. johnson, a contributor to the daily caller.com and the one who obtained the recording. also with me is lou dobbs, host of "lou dobbs tonight" on fox business channel. i want to ask charles, first, i

know you're 23 years old. you, you're a young guy. how did you get your hands on this full recording, and did you listen to it personally? >> yes. so i listened to it in its entirety. i had known that the tape existed, and with the help of the editors of the daily caller, we tracked it down to loyola, and i sent a source in to have a look, and then i sent another source to make sure we could get the video. megyn: okay, so have you personally listened to it, or have you just heard from the sources? >> yes, i've listened to it in its entirety. megyn: you're a young guy, but you're an accomplished guy. you've won all sorts of reports for journalism, i don't mean to belittle you by saying you're young and you're just 23 years old. all right, so what are the highlights on here? >> well, the basic gist of it is that it's a bit like a rosetta stone between obama in 1998 and obama now. he makes all manner of comments

about welfare policy, about gun control policy, about housing policy, all of which inform his views today. um, and that's why i found the tape so interesting. megyn: he seems to make clear that he disagrees with the welfare reform that president bill clinton was responsible for. >> that's right. he says in his own words that he would have voted against or he probably would have voted against the federal welfare reform law. and that's in contrast to what he, what he and some of his act lites state today. megyn: what else is on there? is there some smoking gun that we need to know about? >> well, one of the bigger things is that he says very clearly that he believes the american people do not support -- support very strong gun control laws and that they don't pass not because people don't support them, but they don't pass because their legislators are, essentially, beholden to the nra. megyn: and, obviously, the

president has claimed that he is pro-second amendment while he's been in office, so that'll raise some questions, i guess, for some folks. having listened to the whole thing, what impression did you walk away with, that this is somebody who, i mean, does it ideologically match up to the president we have now? >> i believe it does. i think what's interesting here is that we see obama as, or we hear obama as a community organizer, we hear obama meeting and hanging out with other, um, other community organizers in and around chicago. remember, this is 998. obama had just recently been elected to the state senate, and so he's still sort of wearing his community organizing hat. and we can get something of a sense of what he actually believes then, and it colors what he beliefs now. meg peg charles, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. megyn: lou dobbs, i want to get your reaction. on the tape he referred to the republicans as bad guys, he rips on some of the favorite, you know, boogiemen for some of the

democratic party, right? >> right. and he's in the context, megyn, of a group of what i would describe as socialists. they are certainly statists, and they -- and to put this in an even broader context, imagine, it's october of 1998. president clinton is president of the united states. megyn: uh-huh. >> the economy's growing at a rate of almost 4% a year. unemployment is at 4.6%. things are good. richard m. daley is the mayor of chicago. james edgar, the governor of i'll. things -- of illinois. things are going the democratic way in illinois, in chicago and still there's this meeting of what are obviously frustrated statists who really have no specific agenda but other than these broad concepts including redistribution. the president was exactly wrong. there wasn't a majority that was supporting in any way gun control in the country. he was talking about welfare

reform in a way in which as you telescope to the present you think about what he has done with welfare reform work requirements. first, in 2010 with obamacare he eliminates a level of work requirement for welfare reform. now hhs doing precisely the same thing, although they deny it. it is really extraordinary to see that telescoping of this young state senator, only eight years ago -- ten years ago, rather -- moving ahead to now where he is following the same policies. he is living the dream, and it wasn't his father's dream. megyn: my math, but isn't it 14 years ago? is. >> by the way, i'm just as confused. megyn: 102 minutes, apparently, that's how long it is, and lou has listened to it, he knows of what he speaks. i want to get a clip in. this is the future president

talking about the working poor in chicago and welfare recipients who might become a majority coalition that could be leveraged politically. listen. >> what i think will reengage people in politics is if we're doing senate, serious policy work around what i will label the working poor. >> think about it. by 2004 this then-senator is at

the democratic national convention talking about there are no red states, no blue states, there's just the united states. this is lull class warfare -- absolutely class warfare. it is a manifesto from which he is reading, and it makes clear why he does not like welfare reform as put together under president clinton. it would destroy the coalition that he now has created. megyn: lou, thank you very much. we'll be right back. insulin users test often.

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megyn: well, the obama campaign quietly removing from its web site a controversial print of the u.s. flag emblazoned with president obama's campaign logo where the stars are supposed to be. we first brought you the story last week about the complaints. we brought that to you on friday. and this is what the print looked like then. you can see it on screen right. rows of red stripes and president obama's logo in the

place where the stars would go. when we went back to the site today, the flag prints were gone. no official word on why. well, a big week at the united nations. secretary of state hillary clinton is meeting this afternoon with leaders of three countries where angry anti-american protests took place last week. and iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad delivering remarks before the u.n. general assembly earlier today. david lee miller arrive at the u.n. now -- live at the u.n. now. >> reporter: mahmoud ahmadinejad getting the most attention today, he wasted no time generating controversy. earlier in the day at a breakfast he said that israel has no roots in the middle east, he also went on to say that iran does not take seriously threats from what he termed the zionists, and he also went on to say, megyn, we have all defensive means at our disposable. speaking on the u.n. conference before the general assembly, and that's an audience of world leaders and diplomats, he

attacks the u.n., israel and the u.s., but he remained more nuanced than he did during that breakfast meeting with reporters earlier in the day. he never specificically mentioned israel, but everyone in the hall knew who he was talking about. listen. >> translator: we have witnessed that some members of the security council with little rights have chosen silence with regard to the nuclear warheads of a faith regime while at the same time they impede scientific progress of other nations. >> reporter: and he also questioned israel's right to exist. he said, and i quote: the international community unanimously must hold occupiers accountable and make efforts to return the occupied territories to their rightful owners. during his remarks, by the way, the israeli delegation walked out, and briefly he did touch on the innocence of muslims, the anti-islam film, he said divine prophets and heavenly religions should be protected by law. and in just a few hours' time,

we expect the united states position to be represented by the attorney general, eric holder, and then later this week, megyn, we will hear from ahmadinejad one last time in this week, he is going to speak on wednesday. and keep in mind that yesterday he met with the attorney -- with the secretary general for the united nations who told him to avoid incendiary rhetoric. it's hard to imagine what he might otherwise be saying if he hadn't received that advice. megyn? megyn: wow. david lee miller, thank you. well, the last thing congress did before going on break friday was to pass a house bill aimed at fighting back against what those lawmakers voting for it called -- the bill, i should b say -- called the war on coal. we'll speak with a former miner and an industry rep about what has happened to our coal industry over the last few years and why this has become such a hot campaign issue. in this presidential race. and moments ago the president left the white house heading for new york city where the u.n. general assembly is meeting this week.

but he will not be sitting down with world leaders on this trip, instead, he'll be sitting on the couch with the ladies of "the view." we'll have that debate next. >> so he has time for whoopi goldberg, but he doesn't have time for world leaders? >> no, chris, i -- look, the president is, is going to be actively involved at the u.n. general assembly. >> he's not meeting with any private leaders. private leaders. he's giving a speech., and i jut want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade.

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goldberg, but he doesn't have time for world leaders? >> no, chris, i -- look, the president is going to be actively involved at the u.n. general assembly. >> he's not meeting with any private leaders. >> >> chris -- >> he's giving a speech. >> chris, they have telephones in the white house. last week he talked to the president of egypt, the leader in libya. we don't need a meeting in washington just to confer with leaders. >> but he does need the time to be on "the view." >> i'm sure if he was doing an interview with you on fox news, you'd have no problem with that. >> well, he hasn't, but that's not the point. [laughter] >> look, chris, he's got a strong schedule, he's actively involved -- >> you don't have a problem with the fact that he's not working with any world leaders, but he's going to appear on "the view"? >> chris, you're the president of the united states every minute of every day. megyn: they're the leaders of morning television. [laughter] that was senior obama campaign adviser robert gibbs yesterday on why president obama will not

be meeting with the prime minister of israel or any world leaders when they come to new york for the u.n. general assembly this week. we see the president hopping on air force one here just moments ago, but as he leaves to sit down with whoopi goldberg and the other ladies on "the view" this afternoon, the white house says his schedule is too jam packed to squeeze in any face-to-face meetings this week. the critics are holding up what is basically a campaign appearance to ask where the president's priorities lie. that's fair. joining me now, brad blakeman and former pollster for bill clinton and author of the book "52 reasons to vote for obama," bernard whitman. gentlemen, welcome. >> thank you. megyn: and so, you know, is it a fair, is it a fair debate to be having, brad, when you heard robert gibbs say we have this magic invention called telephones, and you're president every minute of every day, you don't have to take advantage of being in new york city when the world leaders are there to engage in diplomacy and outreach.

>> well, it's the tail wagging the dog. i know something about this. i scheduled the president for three years, george w. bush. and, quite frankly, we wouldn't have had time for "the view" because it would have been jam packed with bilaterals at the the waldorf to sit down with the president and have a discussion, something that you really can't accomplish on the other end of a telephone. there's no substitute to sitting down with a leader. and the other people that he brings to the meeting to talk about the heady issues. look, if everything was great in the world, you'd still want to have the kind of reaction and bilaterals you have with foreign leaders. the fact is we've just had the largest terrorist attack to the american people on september 11th, the 11th anniversary, our ambassador's dead, three other americans dead, millions taking to the states against america, burning the flag. europe is in an economic meltdown, china's building a blue ocean navy, and the president doesn't have time to meet with world leaders? it should be the other way

around, he shouldn't have time to do "the view." to this president, politics is show business, and he feels much more comfortable sitting down with a celebrity than a journalist. megyn: bernard? >> i think it's laughable that chris wallace is schooling the president on how to conduct foreign affairs. let's look at the record, the facts, look at what this president has accomplished in three-and-a-half years. he ended the war in iraq -- megyn: excuse me, let me -- come on now. >> excuse me, let me finish. megyn: we're not looking back over three years to talk about a history lesson. the question is, is it fair for him to criticize to meet with the ladies of "the view"? >> we ought to talk about what the benefits are to the american people and how the american people -- megyn: you know what, bernard? as the anchor, i will decide what we ought to talk about because my producers and i spend a lot of time in the morning -- >> megyn. megyn: i want to give you the floor, but i want you to stay on

point. >> with all due respect, i'm talking about what the american people should be talking about. we should look at what the results have been, what this president's been able to deliver in terms of foreign policy. even your fox news poll has a 54-39 advantage over mitt romney when it comes to foreign policy. so, obviously, whatever this president is doing to end wars, get rid of usama bin laden, take out terrorists is working. megyn: i just don't think you do president obama any favors in arguing his side when you won't stay on point. brad, i'm trying to talk about whether -- forget -- president obama, let's just assume he's been the best president on foreign policy we've ever had in three-and-a-half years. the question is where this makes sense to go on "the view," to sit down with the pimp with a limp radio show, to be with beyonce and jay-z while he's not meeting with these world leaders and while we have this trouble overseas. that's all i'm trying to get to. >> and i think it's critical -- what's fair is to look at how

this president operates. if he has time to sit down and talk with the american people who are listening to what the ladies on the couch have to say, so much the better. i think this president's delivered a secure world. yes, there are problems, but the fact is every person does not get to meet with the president of the united states -- >> look, this is a much more dangerous world under president obama. megyn: okay. all right. but, brad, you too. stay on whether -- okay, again, we can debate his foreign policy, whether it's working. we've done that. i want to talk about the optics, because that's seems to be what chris wallace is going for. why wouldn't you make time for world leaders? >> absolutely. megyn: robert gibbs has a point. there are ways of communicating without sitting down face to face. what is the grand benefit from being across from one another at the table? >> it's incumbent upon the president of the united states to do the job that he's called to do, and that is to be running our foreign policy. and can that requires meeting -- and that requires meeting with world leaders. every year the u.n. g8 convenes

in new york. it's the largest gathering in the entire year. why wouldn't the president of the united states, especially in these troubled times, want to meet with them? >> he is. >> sit down with them, discuss with them and try to figure out how to make this a more peaceful world? you're not going to get that at "the view," but he's going -- megyn: the ladies at "the view" may have some thoughts. [laughter] i'm not sure. bernard, the one he's taken for the most criticism for not meeting with is benjamin netanyahu, some sources in israel are saying he requested a meeting and was denied, the white house says that's not true, e president has a busy schedule, blah, blah, blah. why shouldn't he just sit down and meet with him? some are saying they don't believe netanyahu likes president obama, and it's a smart move not to fall into what is amounting to a trap, but nonetheless, israel is a strategic ally of ours. >> that's way above my pay grade, but netanyahu pointedly said, rejected the attempt to

say, you know, the u.s. is throwing israel under the bus. he pointedly said when asked about it, there is no bus. obama has been steadfast in his support of israel, i think net netanyahu understands that, and sometimes the best way to deliver a message is not to have a sit-down, face to face. we are engage with the the israelis and other individuals on a whole variety of fronts and planes, and sitting down one-on-one so the press can take pictures is not necessarily the way -- >> that's not true. megyn: brad, i do want to say this, the president made news on "60 minutes" last night when steve croft asked him if he feels any pressure by netanyahu to draw a line in the sand on iran, you don't feel any pressure? here's how the president answered. >> when it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that i feel is simply to do what's right for the american people. and i am going to block out any

noise that's out there. megyn: that's getting him in trouble in some circles today because he seems to be making a reference to the noise of netanyahu. brad? >> look, netanyahu said himself he'd meet the president anywhere, washington, new york. and the fact is he was rebuffed by this president. it is clear that israel is on the verge of doing something in anticipation of iran getting nuclear weapons. the fact that this president doesn't feel it necessary to meet and send a signal to our adversaries as to where america is going to stand behind, are we behind israel or not? the fact that we're not meeting with netanyahu sends a terrible signal to the world as to what our allegiance is to israel and what we might do if israel must act. so the fact that israel cannot get a meeting with this president when they're both in new york together, i think, speaks volumes, and it's dangerous. megyn: well, i have good news because i heard that netanyahu called up whoopi, and she's

going to be rehaguing questions. [laughter] >> i think what's dangerous is romney wants to outsource our foreign policy decisions to israel and make them the -- >> no, israel's our ally. >> they are our allies, but it's our foreign policy -- megyn: i've got to go. you guys can continue. thank you both so much. >> thank you. megyn: well, a riot on the fact floor brings new attention to the massive manufacturing operation in china that managed to steal the contracts for producing iphones, ipads and other products that typically fly off of american shelves. we'll update you. and there are a dozen states that make up what is called coal country with a lot of votes on the line, a lot of votes n. three minutes, we'll bring you the fierce new battle on the, quote, war on coal as phrased by some in the house, and what it means for jobs, the economy and this election. >> has to be a war on coal for the epa rules and regulations, standards. we can't get to those levels. they're unattainable. if they're unattainable, how ar

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>> they're wanting to close these mines down. i've got little ones at home, a wife that needs me. >> we have 250 years of coal, why wouldn't we use it? megyn: well, that was an ad by governor romney released just last week calling out the obama administration for restrictions on the coal industry. the governor's not alone in this worry. on friday 19 democrats crossed the aisle to support a republican bill that rolls back some of the regulations making up what the gop is calling a, quote, war on coal. joining me now, mike duncan who's president and ceo of the american coalition for clean coal electric and bob murray who's the ceo of murray energy and a former coal miner. he also hosted governor romney at a coal event in ohio a couple of weeks ago. gentlemen, welcome to you. >> thank you. megyn: bob, let me start with you on this because this is sort of an untold story, what's

happening in america right now, these mass firings, layoffs and rollbacks in terms of length of employment or payment for coal miners in the coal industry due to what? >> due to the war on coal by president barack obama, no question about it. megyn, it doesn't make any difference whether you're a democrat or republican, you're generally supportive of jobs in the united states. not this president. he has destroyed 83,000 megawatts of coal-fired electricity. he has closed 200 coal-fired power plants. megyn, that is not an issue just for the coal industry, that is the four-cent-a-kilowatt hour industry he has destroyed while he promotes wind and solar that gets $22 a kilowatt hour there the taxpayer. this man is destroying the economy of the united states of america, he's destroying

low-cost electricity for people on fixed incomes, and he's destroying low-cost electricity for those who manufacture products to compete in the global marketplace, ma'am. megyn: mike, you're a coal industry guy, and let me tell you what the epa says in response to your arguments like the one that we just heard from bob. it says that, look, these coal plants are closing and struggling because of competition, because there is cheap and newly-abundant supplies of natural gas, and it's the natural market. >> well, the war on coal has a lot of casualties, and we saw some of those last week with the lay ahs by -- layoffs bilal that, and there are some market forces at play. but primarily the major force here is the overreaching of an aggressive environmental protection agency led by the president. and we did a study at ace recently where we showed it's not just coal miner jobs being lost, but it's power plants. over 204 power plants are going to be forcibly retired in the

next year. now, what does that mean? that means higher-priced electricity for individuals, for businesses, if for manufacturing. in fact, it means there's going to be a scarcity of electricity in parts of the country. that's enough kilowatt, megawatts to power the entire state of ohio. it's over 40 states that have less megawatt power than that. we don't have a lot of electricity to waste in this country, and the environmental protection agency, the policies that they are promulgating, is wasting that electricity. megyn: bob, help me understand, somebody who, you know, doesn't know much about the coal industry. how is it, because, you know, president obama and the democrats would tell us these regulations are important to keep our natural resources clean and healthy, and in the end they benefit us all in that way. why, why do you take issue with that? >> well, his own studies show that the benefit to americans is a fraction of the cost of the destruction of this entire industry.

and, megyn, a human issue to me. i know the names of my employees who i've already had to lay off and those that will be laid off. these people just want to work in honor and dignity, and this president is denying that. it's not the america i cherish. in the pjm interconnection that has a quarterly auction, that's the 13 utilities east of the mississippi river, electric power was just bid up for '15. >> '16 to 800%, eight times for '15 and '16 what the power costs are in '11 and '12. he is going to ask for millions of jobs to china by destroying low-cost electricity in this country for no environmental benefit at all. just to placate his constituents in the radical environmental movement, unionists, elitists and so forth. megyn: i want to talk to you both about what you're hearing from actual coal mining towns

and people in these coal industries was they tend to -- because they tend to pop up in states that are, for whatever reason, critical swing states, pennsylvania, ohio and others, and i want to talk about where you think this is going to have an electoral impact right after this break. don't go away. insulin users test often. freestyle lite can help you test easy. they need a third the blood of onetouch ultra. zipwik tabs target the blood and pull it in. call now for free strips and a meter. like the elephant on my chest... he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital." i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm very grateful to be alive. aspirin really made a difference.

megyn: so president obama has described his energy plan as an all of the above. he likes coal, he says, he likes it all. you name it, he's in favor of it. and the white house says it's committed nearly $6 billion for the advance of coal research. they point out, mike, that there are some issues with coal production, and they say that power plants are responsible for 50% of mercury emissions which can lead to developmental problems in children and so on. your thoughts? >> well, i know that that in the last 30 years we've spent over $100 billion as an industry to

clean up the air in this country. i remember what it was like in various cities in the country. it's like it is in beijing, china, today. and we're going to spend another $100 billion in the power industry in the next few years to further clean the air. over 85% of the particulates are out of the air. we believe that the coal industry has done a great job in cleaning the air with the power industry, and there will be more cleaning to come. but it can't be done overnight. the regulations, the authority that the epa has used to put all this on one industry at one time, in effect, puts them out of business. megyn: now, as i mentioned, these republicans plus 19 democrats have approved a bill that would stop what they call this war on coal. they want to roll back regulations and other measures, but it's doa in the senate. no one believes the senate's going to pass it, and president obama's said he's going to veto it if it does make it to him. bob, what do you think this will do in some of these critical swing states including ohio, and

virginia, all of which have seen layoffs in the coal industry? >> our coal miners, megyn, clearly understand what president obama is doing to their lives and their livelihoods. he's destroying them. they understand it. i have already said to governor romney that he will carry ohio because in eastern ohio, a heavily democrat area, neither he, nor sherrod brown, the radical senator from ohio who's voted with obama 98% of the time, will be reelected. the will carry ohio -- he will carry ohio because of his destruction of the coal industry in ian ohio. megyn: these are pictures of coal miners showing up at a romney event which is, you know, typically folks like coal miners, union folks might not lean right, but in some instances you can see by the sign they do. gentlemen, thank you both so much. >> thank you, megyn. >> thank you. megyn: coming up, a texas high school is under fire after a

15-year-old female student is aledly spanked -- allegedly spanked by a male vice principal. up next, why the school says it didn't do anything wrong. and the president taking heat when he describes as riots as bumps in the road to his mideast policy. white house reporter ed henry and ambassador john boll on the are next. bob...

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hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. megyn: fox news alert. we are minutes away from president obama arriving in n at the u.n. general assembly as he face.new questions about the u.s. foreign policy. he's expected to land as the republicans criticize the president for his response to deadly riots in the muslim world

and for remarks he made to cbs news on "60 minutes." he called it all quote bums in the road when it comes to his middle east policy. ed henry live in new york with more. >> reporter: republicans pouncing on this. this was the first terror attack on president obama's watch at that consulate in benghazi. that was essentially u.s. soil. they had been dealing with the fallout from this for almost two weeks as their story has faced many challenges in terms of how it all played out. their response to it. whether security was good enough on the ground, then when the president was on "60 minutes" last night suggesting when asked about all of this, that maybe it was -- just hit a bum in the road. context was talking about the long sweep of things going back to 2011 with the arab swing. bumps in the road from then until now. take a listen.

>> i think it was absolutely the right thing for to us do to align ourselves with democracy, universal rights, a notion that people have to be able to participate in their own governance. but i was pretty certain and continued to be pretty certain that there will be bumps in the road. in a lot of these places that one organizing principle has been islam. >> reporter: in addition to the situation in libya other foreign policy challenges the president is confronting including whether iran is going to get nuclear weapons. the president has faced criticism for not agreeing to meet with the israeli prime minister *. also noteworthy the president will only be on the ground for less than 24 hours answer he lands. one of the first thing he will be doing is taping an episode of the "the view" that will air tomorrow.

that sparked questions for jay carney at the white house briefing in washu washington, why the president was not holding any one on one meeting with world leaders. he says the president can do those by phone. >> the president has just in the last few weeks had extensive consultations with foreign leaders including the leaders of egypt, israel, yemen, turkey, libya, and those consultations will continue. not just with leaders in the region but leaders around the world. it is part of the job of being president that that be the case. he will certainly encounter many leaders tonight in new york as well as tomorrow. >> reporter: a departure from last year at these u.n. meetings. the president had a dozen meetings. he's not doing any this year. he will have sideline meetings.

he will be delivering remarks to the u.n. general assembly. the president will tomorrow. that was him addressing the general assembly last year. the president now leaving the heavy lifting to secretary of state hillary clinton who has several dozen meetings here on the ground in new york. megyn: one of the middle east headlines involved the man behind an anti-islam film produced in the united states, the trail of which ended up on youtube and incited riots. a pakistani cabinet minister now offering $100,000 to anyone who kills the filmmaker. even appealing to the taliban and al qaeda to help finds him. the government trying to distance themselves from that remark saying that's not the official position of their government. the white house coming under increasing pressure to come clean about the security at our consulate in libya in the days

before it was attacked. mitt romney is speak live at an event in pueblo, colorado. the whole thing is streaming live if you want to watch it on foxnews.com. one news network is reporting that ambassador chris stevens' own journal revealed his concerns about security there at the consulate. and the rise in is almostic extremism and al qaeda inside libya. at one point the ambassador said he felt like a target and believed he was on an al qaeda hit list. were these concerns well found and were they ignored? did we do enough to protect our diplomats on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. john bolton is the former ambassador to the u.n. and consults with the romney campaign. with you i want to talk about

the substance of the journal which has been reported widely. it said that he was concerned about what he called the never-ending security threats there, especially in benghazi. the ambassador specifically mentioned the rise in extreme'ism and the growing frefs al qaeda in libya and said he was on an al qaeda hit list. >> we don't know how he came to believe this but he had excellent contacts in the libyan opposition. he may have been told that by security personnel. but i'm sure if he believed security was a problem he would have informed the state department's diplomatic security bureau. they would have made a threat assessment and should have taken the necessary threats. the fact that he and three other americans were killed by definition shows there was a

massive breach of security. megyn: what kinds of communication do you have from someone in the state department who might deal with ambassador stevens? aram bass -- ambassador stevens? susan rice came out and said this was about a film. it was not preplanned. now the administration is telling us something different. >> i feel sorry for susan rice to have uttered those words. i wondered at the time, where was secretary clinton. she was responsible, not susan rice. but if you have security concerns, there are well established bureaucratic procedures to follow. i think the questions ought to be direct at the state department. did the bureau of diplomatic security try to increase its personnel? were they denied for some other reason? if if the answer is there were a lot of libyan security guards

for the ambassador, that answer doesn't kit. that may reveal a failing in the overall approach to the region, the idea that you could trust non-americans to protect an american ambassador. that's obviously a mistake. megyn: the state department is expressing its outrage at cnn for coming out with the contents of the so-called diary. cnn is responding saying the level of your outrage speaks volumes about this. >> foreign service officers traditionally have carried around bound notebooks where they take notes of meetings they are in. they jot thousand thoughts and ideas. i'm not sure i would characterize this as a diary. it's not my relations with my family it, a professional ongoing professional journal. in that sense i think its contents -- i would keep

personal information quiet. but it tells you something about what was happening. megyn: i want to ask you about your comment about susan right. how does that work? can you give us a window into how that would work. when you were ambassador to the knightsr united nations. did someone call up and say hit the sunday talk show circuit and this is the message. or are we to believe susan rice looked at this and said this is a protest. >> ambassadors carry out instructions, if they don't, they get fired. their mistake was not having susan rice say it, there mistake was the message. they weren't reporting facts, they were concluding the demonstrations and assassination were due to the mohammad film when they didn't have the facts to go on. if they wanted to duck the issue they are very good at that. they could have said we reached

a conclusion. they reached a conclusion that was politically useful to them. megyn: we have yet to hear from the president since all that came out. this was a terror attack and preplanned. al qaeda may be have much behind it according to the initial reports that we are getting. i want to play a sound bite from dana perino. and let you respond to her thoughts on this. >> when robert gibbs is not the press secretary anymore. neither of us have security clearances anymore. he's obviously to this kite house than i would be. but how does he know what the information is? why would they send a campaign person out to talk about it? where is the dni? the national security council? when he says it was intentional or unintentional it was something tensional. there was misinformation. i don't understand why at the beginning they didn't say we

don't know what we don't know and we'll get back to you as soon as we get more information. then we wouldn't feel misled. megyn: she is talking about how robert gibbs said susan rice didn't intentional or unintentionally mississippi lead anybody. >> why should anybody be surprised? this president hasn't governed for 3 1/2 years. he campaigned for 3 1/2 years. this is business as usual. megyn: you miss the u.n.? >> the only thing i miss is being inside the government bubble when it comes to traffic inside manhattan. when you are outside the government bibility's not a happy time. megyn: welcome to our world, sir. as we mentioned a debate has broken out over how cnn handled this personal journal. this diary. did it break the rules? did it break some ethical standards when it revealed notes

out of the notebook. the state department is going after them, no holds barred. a riot on the factory floor brings attention to the slightly frightening manufacturers in china that managed to steal the contracts for producing the parts for the iphone. four more years is what president obama says he needs to finish the job on the economy. we'll have a fair and balanced debate. >> we always said in this campaign that change takes more than one term. it takes more than one president. it takes more than one party. it can't happen if you write off half the nation. when we got married.

i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years.

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presidential race and a trend that seems to show president obama with a growing lead over governor romney. but are the polls built on a faulty formula? that what's we are hearing from a small but growing group of political pros. but is that fair? joining me now two veteran pollsters. doug schoen is the former advisor to bill clinton. dick morris who was once president clinton's pollster. but he's not a fan of the clintons anymore. but he writes this long piece talking about how the republicans are getting depressed under an after land much of polling that shows president obama ahead but she you shouldn't be because the pollsters are using a variance of the 2008 polling model that he says overstates the likelihood of success. >> it could. the truth is we don't know what the turnouts of democrats and republicans will be. but would i say this.

dick it right in so far as most of the media polls are using -- are optimistic for the democratic party. as a professional pollster you try to be as cautious as possible in advising your clients. but most of the polls getting released are giving president obama the benefit of the doubt. megyn: why would they do that? if it says it's -- i don't understand why any pollster would want anything hotter than the most accurate results. >> what accurate is is often open to debate. the dirty little secret of polling is with cell phones and republicans not answering polls frequently as frequently as democrats, there is a sort of inherent bias built into the process that is favoring the democratic party. we have seen it in exit polls. megyn: wouldn't the absence ofville cell phones favor democrats? >> most people are adding cell

phones in but they eight on top of their sample. when you have a change in party preference. if i'm 1 point more democratic than i should be that's .9 of that vote is certain to go to obama. same with romney. now when we have polls that have a lot of these swing states where we have the democratic edge or republicans higher than it was in 2008, not just even, but even higher, what it tends to we believe is exaggerate the margins. megyn: do you think dick morris is right? he says latinos increased their share by 1.5%. he says if you use that same model for this election and assume you will have the same turnouts from blacks, latinos and young kids, you will be off in your results. >> we just don't know the answer. that is, if all groups are

depressed in their turnout as seems likely. the black or latino share will be about the same. young people probably will go down. they are showing less interests. but we can't say with specificity what dick is asserting. megyn: what are you supposed to do? >> both of us -- political pollsters screen and likeliness to vote, interest, intensity and where you are. we have in 2004 a split country. we had about an 8-point advantage for democrats in 2000. i can't imagine it being as good or better. if it is, republicans are going down across the board. >> we try to use a variety of different scenarios. even party, slight democratic advantage. bigger democratic advantage then look at differen different altes and advice accordingly. megyn: is there a finger on the poll? there was a hit piece on rasmussen saying he's a biased

person. he's an independent guy. >> the justice department sued the gallup organization with this crazy guy. megyn: i think people look at polls because they are genuinely interested where the election stands. >> what we need to worry about is how the media is moving the polls. how they are projecting the look. i'm just telling you that the narrative right now in the mainstream media. this is the mainstream media not covering libya. look at what they are not covering. many of them have -- the news organizations, they have an obama bias and they want polls to do this. they are building up the momentum but what morris' piece is references, it's clear president obama has improved his job approval and he's improved a sense of things may be getting somewhat better. >> what's happening is the democratic polls that favor obama are getting more credence

and attention than polls like rasmussen or guam that show the race even. we tend to look at the real clear politics average that tends to even out some of the outhere is as what the d the outliers. but the media as pat suggests has only been emphasizing a narrative. megyn: this is starting to feel like a fortune teller and she says you are going to meet a tall, dark handsome man and you are going have children. you may or may not do those things. you look back and say she is brilliant. or if you don't like the results you say she didn't know. >> it's more an art than a science. but there is a lot of science in it. megyn: thank you so much. coming up, a texas high school after a 15-year-old female student, is allegedly spanked by

a male vice principal. up next why the school says it did nothing wrong. a riot broke out between the tens of thousands of chinese workers month make your i phones and ipads. trace is next with what this means for american shoppers and workers.

megyn: a fox news alert on our top story. we promised to be watching this mitt romney events. president obama is getting heat from republicans after he described the fierce and deadly american violence erupting overseas as quote bumps in the road. here is what governor romney had to say about that moment ago. >> his comments on foreign policy particularly the middle east where things are so

turbulent we are very surprising to people. he said the developments in the middle east are bumps in the road. that was my reaction. bumps in the road? we had an ambassador assassinated. we had a muslim bootherhood elected to the presidency of egypt. 20,000 people have been killed in syria. we have hulsyria. we have tumult in pakistan. these are not bumps in the road. these are human lives. these are developments we don't want to see. it's time for the president to shape events in the middle east, not just be at the mercy of the events in the middle east. i'll get america on track to have the kind of leadership we need so i can shape the future of this part of the world to keep america strong. megyn: there you have it, mitt romney out on the campaign trail. the president will speak tomorrow right here in new york

city at the united nations. now to a story raising eyebrows and questions about the use of physical punishment in some of our schools. it turns out the practice of using the paddle to discipline students is not a thing of the past. now a male administrator is being questioned about why he spanked a female student. >> reporter: 15-year-old taylor santos is a well-regarded student. she allegedly got caught letting another student copy her homework. instead of a two-day suspension and missing classes taylor decided to take the paddle. in this case the mom said fit was okay with taylor, it was okay with her. but the rule is male students are female students are paddled by the same gender. in this case taylor was paddled

by a male vice principal. >> there were welts on me today. >> men are too big and strong to be mitting 9 pound girls. >> reporter: another female student got paddled by that same vice principal. she also had the marks to show for it. listen to her mom. >> a swat is a swat. and they do sting. but to bruise a child? two men giving her a swat behind closed doors? that is creepy. >> reporter: both of the moms call this legalized child abuse saying if they did that to their own kids child protective services would be on their door steps. 31 states have abolished corporal punishment. the people sort says it's okay until it's abolished by local authority.

the superintendent is trying to get the rule change so male faculty can in fact hit female students with that paddle. megyn: that's one solution. it's the rule that needs to be changed. wow, it's a different time than it used to be. trace, thank you. he says he needs more time. but will voters buy president obama's recent argument that four years is not enough for him to fix the economy? a fair and balanced debate is next. >> we always said in this campaign that change takes more than one term. it takes more than one president. it takes more than one party. it can't happen if you write off half the nation.

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megyn: president obama at a weekend rally in wisconsin make the argument that he needs to a second term to get america back on track. listen ... >> we always said in this campaign that change takes more than one term. it takes more than one president, it takes more than one party. it can't happen in you write off half the nation. in 200847% of the country -- in 2008, 47% of the people in the country didn't vote for me. by said on election night, i may not have gotten your vote, but i hear your voices and i'll be your president. megyn: that different from the president we heard in 2009 on

the "today show." >> i will be held accountable. i have got four years. and a year from now i think people are going to see that we are starting to make some progress. but there is still going to be some pain out there. if i don't have this done in three years then it will be a one-term proposition. megyn: joining knee now, bill mcgun, and santita jackson. he said i always said it takes more than one turn. you can see in the intro he said a couple years ago if i don't get it done in one term it will be a one-term proposition. i love these politicians. on both sides of the aisle, they pretends we don't have videotape, by we do. does that speak to anybody?

>> it's the position you have if you have the hand they have now. my approach is now they tell us. he said in this campaign i have been saying that it will take more than one term. i agree with him where he said it won't be one president or one party. i think we need a different term for another party. megyn: he pivoted pretty quickly to the 47% and getting back into those comments by mitt romney last week. that will be an ongoing issue in this campaign. some stats that came out last week talks about this argument about, the rich and are we divide and is it going to be those who pay taxes against those who don't pay taxes. and we heard some of them before that our calculations show that taxing millionaires at 100% would run the federal government from 2 1/2 to 3 months. so there is a question about what president obama's plan is. >> that is the question.

at the end of the day we are all republican and democrat and independent looking for an america where we'll eradicate poverty. where you can growth middle class and build wealth. i think of this old poem my grandmother used to talk about. you can undo in a minute or two what it takes years to do. we have two off budget wars. we have a housing crisis. we have crises we have not seen since the great depression. i think the mistakes made in 2009 and 2008 was neither republican nor democrat described adequately the depth of this problem. this is a great depression moment. this is a depression. particularly where i live. in urban america, for example, black men are unemploids at a rate of 32-50%. we are seeing white wealth drop. and we need to adequately describe the problem so we can

have adequate solutions. megyn: the president said the reason for those stats is the republican controlled congress wouldn't pass my american jobs recovery act and the jobs act. and he blamed it on the republican house. >> i think all this is fine. the political talk and so forth. but when president obama came in there was no modesty about how long this would take. and he has the largest majoritiesth the senate and house to do what he wanted. some of us think he made the matter worse. if you look at today's "wall street journal" there is an excellent editorial on the announcement of mining jobs shut down in west virginia. and the miners are blaming it on the epa and the regulations. some believe his policies have made it worse in a whole host of areas and it would get better partly because we stopped doing a lot of bad things. we haven't had a good trade

deal. when he finished with the bush trade deals, the president things businesses are sitting on a lot of money to punish him. i think they are terrified of what comes next. they are especially terrified of a second term where it could be executive orders and all sorts of things. megyn: if he doesn't face reelection that would be the case. he does haven't to answer to anybody. the president is big on pointing to this jabs act he wanted passed. but he didn't introduce it until he had the republican controlled economy. why didn't he do it is the response when his party was controlling both houses, solid majorities in both houses of congress. instead he focused on healthcare. >> i think people who don't have insurance wouldn't think that was a waste of time. i don't know what happened. i'm not president. i know he wanted a multi trillion dollar jobs bill bailout. but he only got $700 billion.

we again -- we did not adequately the describe the depth of the problem. i don't think he knew what he was walking into. when i saw in 2008 and all of the excitement. the housing collapse in britain. the housing markets collapsed in britain in 2011. that should have been a red flog to us then. but we acted as if everything is fine. we have been dealing with housing forecloud ours. let's be real about the fact that democrats and republicans have fumbled on this. >> he's doing particularly well as compared to a couple months ago. and if folks don't seem to be blaming him for the economic conditions in the country. >> in some of these states like ohio and had in, they had republican governors that have had good policies that led to a lot of growth. you don't see that in california and illinois. where we have traditional

democratic vote. it's common when things are under a democratic president when we say democrats and republicans. this idea they didn't know the extent of the problem, they were the experts, they never said that. what i see is the things yet because of the policies we have now. the more people say the problem was bigger than we thought coming in. that's not what we were told. that's not the campaign obama ran in 2008 and so forth. if he told us now and was wrong about it then, what makes us think going into the next year he will be right about it. megyn: he wants to raise taxes on the millionaires. they tax all the millionaires at 100% than that gives us three months if we are lucky so we need more. clearly that won't be enough. >> i have to tell you, look, more and more every day i become more and more independent.

when i look at what the solutions the republicans and democrats have put forth. i'm not buying it. when i think of the 47%, neither republican nor democrat have a real plan to address poverty. we are seeing poverty the likes of which we have not seen since prior to the war on poverty. hunger hurts. this what is we are seeing across america. the housing foreclosure crisis. healthcare is still an issue for people. what are we going to do about it. if we go into the debates next week. let's ask governor romney and president obama what is the plan. i'm not -- i'm party agnostic now. megyn: i think a lot of americans feel that way. >> 90 million americans said they won't vote. that's up from 40 million 10 years ago. meg if you don't educate yourself stay at home and eat popcorn.

megyn: a debate has broken out over how a friend of ours, cnn, handled the journal of the libyan ambassador chris stevens. they say one of their journalists found it on site four days after his death and used the contents of it. did cnn break any rules or break ethical standard when they revealed the contents of that journal against the wishes of his family. that next in "kelly's court."

megyn: a special edition of "kelly's court." ambassador stevens expressed concerns or security before he was murdered in libya. cnn said it recovered the

journal at the scene of the attack and confirmed the information through others. cnn decided detail from journal were newsworthy and important and they deserved reporting despite what the state department claims was a request by the family not to report the information. the state department going after cnn, calling its decision indefensible among other things. did the network violate any rules? joining me now, kirsten powers and rich lowry. we went to the non-lawyers for this debate because there is is a debate about journalism. >> you are really slumming today. megyn: we have special appearances in "kelly's court." this is the question. rich, they say they found it, it was newsworthy, they did call the family, and that apparently according to the state department over the family's objections cnn said it's news and they are going with it. did they do anything wrong?

>> i don't think so. not in the big question. if you believe the state department they did give false assurance to the family. their initial report that you alluded to, the sourcing was hazy. probably because they are embarrassed to admit they got it from the journal. on the big question is it newsworthy? is it correct and appropriate to report this from the journal? absolutely. this is definitely a newsworthy item that sheds light on what really happened there, a big event. first time we lost an ambassador since 1979. i think part of the state department's reaction, maybe they are generally outraged on behalf of the family. part of it, they are outraged that they are getting called on the fact this was a terror attack, this was an unsecure environment and why wasn't there more security on the grounder to the ambassador. megyn: if you read the lengthy response. they went after cnn calling

their behavior disgusting. cnn responds, it was newsworthy. perhaps the real question is why the state department is attacking the messenger. >> i thought it was really unnecessarily harsh. it was kind of disturbing because i do think they are trying to sort of i think pressure journalists not to report on things that haven't been approved by the government. and in this case i agree completely with rich. they made some mistakes in the way they sourced it and how they dealt with the family. but the information they reported was important. considering we weren't getting good information from the administration and the information they were reporting was so contradicting what the administration was saying, i think they did the right thing. megyn: listen to nancy pelosi's daughter who appeared with geraldo rivera. >> i think cnn is outrageous.

these are personal effects and there is no way cnn should be reporting on the private contents of his journal unless they have his next of kin permission by they did not have. what does that say to anyone in the war zone. what does it say to our ambassador corps and military if a news person happens to get co-to your corpse first they get to pick a diary and start publishing without the wishes of your family. i think that's wrong and they crossed the line. they ought to give that to the family and let the man left in peace. megyn: that's christine pelosi. >> stopped by whom? the police state? the idea of being stopped from doing it. even the statement from the state department. people have to read the whole statement to get. but somehow the cnn people were just having fun. they were transcribing it and send it to people and looking at it for fun. they were looking at it for news

reasons. because he said he was concerned about al qaeda. the administration was telling us what, megyn? that it wasn't a terrorist attack. i think what needs to be looked at is the state department's bad behavior in trying to pressure journalists into not reporting news. megyn: what the city department said in part, whose first instinct is to remove from the crime scene the diary of a man killed. right, transscriebt and only when their cur. you can't help but read that as a news person. >> that's what a news organization does. if this diary was so sensitive and important to the united states government they could have sent someone to get it. why is it sitting four the charred ruins of this consulate for cnn to pick up. it's not like cnn went through it for salacious details or

private ruminations about his colleagues or family. this goes to the central question of what happened there and why. it's especially important because the administration has been so deceptive about it. megyn: good debate. nice job in "kelly's court." we'll be back an update on the folks who make your ipad. it's not great. heart attack patient. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and now i don't have that fear.

megyn: after a new edition to the national zoo, tragically passes away. a giant panda cub which was unmade and too young to be determined the whether it was a boy or girl died six days after being born. and because they are vulnerable to a variety of dangers early in life whether from lack or warmth or their incredibly small size,

it says this cub's mama was loving and concerned on it. while this cub did have some abnormalities on its liver, the exact cause of dates under investigation. they say there is a 50% mortality rate for baby pandas. the company that makes iphones shutting down production after a brawl near its factory in china. foxconn says 2,000 people were involved in the violence. leaving its dormitory in shambles. the fight shining a new light on the company that managed to snatch the contract to produce the wildly popular gadget for am. >> reporter: they also make some of the gadgets or microsoft and hewlett-packard. this brawl was big time. as you said, 2,000 people. it happened at one of the plants in northern china. it was in a privately managed dormitory. 2,000-plus employees went to blows.

it took 5,000 police officers four hours to restore the chaos. when order was brought back at least 40 people were taken to hospital for treatment. there were broken windows. the brawl was apparently triggered by a security guard punching one of the employees and a bunch of employees came to his aid and then it was on. an audit by apple found that foxconn employees regularly worked more than 60 hours a week with no overtime. those hours have since been cut, but the company has been under a great deal of pressure because of low wages and bad work conditions. but those are still considered to be good jobs in china. this is not going to affect your ipad or iphone sale at all. even though sales are brisk they are still down. pretty dramatically than am thought they would be a lot higher. they are not and the stock is also down. the brawl is over.

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